A recent post in Avos discussed the tension within Judaism between a personal, individual path to Hashem and the path which is recommended to all. The best way is to follow both paths simultaneously.
I recently came across an early Avakesh post that expressed something important and true.
"On the one hand we are told that any minchah, or meal offering, may not include leaven or honey (Vayikra 2:11). This pasuk implies that the basic ingredients of flour and oil must remain free from anything extra.
And yet, just two pesukim later we are told “ba’melach timlach,” that all menachos should be salted (2:13). In fact, the verse continues and further commands us that all sacrifices must include the addition of salt.
The question is two-fold: Why may we not add leaven or honey to the korban? And if we are commanded not to add ingredients, why must we add salt?
A number of classical meforshim offer symbolic explanations for the problem with leaven and honey, but most of these explanations don’t address the positive contribution of salt.
R. Mordechai Gifter (Pirkei Torah), offers a beautiful explanation to both rules.
The problem with honey and leaven is that they are additives. They improve the taste or consistency of food by changing it. The external nature of the change they induce is the source of their prohibition.
Salt, on the other hand, preserves and enhances the natural flavor of food and this is the reason that we add it to korbanos.
R. Gifter goes on to explain that these twin halachos do not merely govern what ingredients can be added to a sacrifice, but – more profoundly – serve as a model for spiritual expression and aspiration.
Symbolically, we are being taught that our service of and relationship with God shouldn’t be artificial mimicry of others, but a natural expression of our true inner selves. [For a similar idea, see the comments of the Sfas Emes, on the phrase (Vayikra 1:2) “adam ki yakriv mi’kem.”]
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